How to Roast a Whole Hog

A step-by-step plan for cooking a whole hog in a pit or hog cooker, from ordering the pig to chopping the meat. Read it all the way through before your cook, and adapt it to your own pit and the advice of your butcher.

1. Plan ahead

A whole hog cook takes planning more than skill. Settle these details at least a couple of weeks ahead:

  • The cooker. A cinder-block pit, a rented steel hog cooker, or another cooker large enough for the hog. Measure it.
  • The hog. Order from a butcher or farm, telling them your headcount and cooker size. Ask for the hog dressed and scraped, and ask about pickup timing and whether it will be fresh or frozen.
  • Cold storage. Arrange a way to keep the raw hog at 40 °F or colder until cooking: a walk-in, a very large cooler with plenty of ice, or a refrigerated rental.
  • Fuel. Hardwood, charcoal or both, in generous quantity. Running out halfway is the most common whole-hog disaster.
  • A crew. At least one helper for moving and flipping the hog, and people to take turns on the night shift.
  • Tools. Shovel, metal bucket or burn barrel, heat-resistant gloves, a leave-in probe thermometer plus an instant-read thermometer, a pit thermometer, wire grates or hog racks, foil or sheet metal, a fire extinguisher or hose, and cleavers and big pans for serving.

2. Prepare the hog

  1. If the hog is frozen, thaw it completely in cold storage before cooking. The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) advises against smoking meat that is not fully thawed.
  2. Rinse off any bone dust or debris from the butchering, and pat dry.
  3. Lay the hog skin-side down. Many pitmasters "butterfly" the hog by cutting through the backbone from the inside, without cutting the skin, so it lies flat and cooks more evenly. Your butcher can do this for you.
  4. Trim away any loose fat or bloody bits. Remove the tenderloins if you want to cook them separately, as they cook faster than the rest.
  5. Season the meat side with salt or a simple rub. Some cooks inject the hams and shoulders with a seasoned brine. Keep the hog cold until it goes on.

3. Build the fire

Most whole hog pits are fired with coals made separately and shoveled under the hog, rather than a fire built directly in the pit. A burn barrel (a steel drum with a grate) or a separate fire area works well. Burn hardwood such as oak or hickory down to glowing coals, or light charcoal in batches. FSIS advises using only approved fire starters, never gasoline or paint thinner, and setting up in a well-ventilated area away from trees, shrubs and buildings.

4. Start the cook

  1. Preheat the pit with a layer of coals.
  2. Place the hog on the grate skin-side up, meat facing the coals. Put the thickest parts, the shoulders and hams, over the area where you will add the most coals.
  3. Close the pit with a lid, sheet metal or a tarp-protected cover so heat and smoke stay inside, leaving a little ventilation.
  4. Monitor the pit temperature with a thermometer at grate level. FSIS recommends keeping smoker air temperatures between 225 and 300 °F throughout cooking.

5. Tend the fire

This is the long part. Add a few shovels of fresh coals at regular intervals, concentrating them under the hams and shoulders and using fewer under the thinner middle. Keep notes of the pit temperature. Do not let grease flare up; if it does, move coals away from the drips. Avoid lifting the lid more than necessary, as every look lets heat escape.

6. Check the temperature

Insert a leave-in probe into the deepest part of a ham and another into a shoulder. Check the loin with an instant-read thermometer too. FSIS lists 145 °F with at least a three-minute rest as the safe minimum internal temperature for whole cuts of pork. For meat that pulls apart easily, pitmasters cook the shoulders and hams far beyond that, until the meat is very tender and the bones begin to move freely.

7. The flip

When the meat is tender, many cooks flip the hog so the skin faces the coals, to crisp it. With two people wearing heat-resistant gloves, use a second grate placed on top of the hog to sandwich and turn it in one move. Add an even layer of hot coals and watch closely: skin goes from crackling to burnt quickly. Some cooks mop the exposed meat with vinegar sauce at this stage.

8. Serve

Let the hog rest briefly, then either let guests pick meat straight from the hog or pull and chop the meat in large pans, mixing light and dark meat with bits of crisp skin. Season with vinegar sauce to taste. Keep served meat hot, at 140 °F or above according to FSIS, in covered pans over low heat or in warmers.

9. Leftovers and cleanup

  • Refrigerate leftovers within two hours of coming off the heat (one hour if it is above 90 °F), cut into small portions in shallow containers. FSIS says to use smoked meat within four days or freeze it.
  • Let the coals burn out completely and douse them with water before leaving the pit unattended.
  • Scrape and clean grates while they are still warm.

Common mistakes

  • Running out of fuel or helpers in the middle of the night.
  • Too much heat under the thin middle, drying out the loin while the hams lag behind.
  • Skipping a thermometer and guessing.
  • Leaving cooked meat sitting out for hours during the party.

For the party around the pig, see the pig pickin'. For pit plans, see barbecue pits.

Sources

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